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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

just got my new set of lomos... WOW

Zakaree Sandberg

Zakaree Sandberg

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Im a vintage lens WHORE..

I love them...

I had a sweet set of KOWAS.. love them.. but they were BNCR and wanted a motorcycle.. so i sold them..

I currently have a cooke 20-100

had zeiss ZFs (just sold them.. and funded the purchase of my new set of lomos)

18, 22, 35, 50, 75, 100, 150

all pl mount, all 80mm, all geared

the mechanics are better than my kowas were.. and i feel a lot of the fuss over them is completely blown out of porportion..

no they aren't as smooth as s4s

they are not all the same size, so you may need to adjust a follow focus here and there

some of them have iris on the nose, which rotate, some don't..

some are a little tighter focus wise, than others (but not terrible)

You have to handle them with love..

that being said...

THEY LOOK AMAZING as i new they would.. theres very little non anamorphic lomo footage online.. I WILL CHANGE THAT, just for the sake of giving them a good online presence

are they for everyone ? probably not..

if your after that nasty medical perfectly sharp so your eye bleeds look.. then don't get them

if your sick of that plastic, way too digital look i just described.. and would like a more organic, pleasing, film like image.. then take a look at lomos.

I feel like I'm giving away a hidden secret here.

Its not just lomos though..

My kowas rocked (they were different though)

I've also used cooke s2/3 and they are nice.. maybe a little too saturated and orange for my taste, but still nice

the lomos lean more in the middle white ground, but have a real nice soft but sharp at the same time quality.. id say rolloff..

do they cover 5k?

not the 18.. and not the 22

18 is visible DARK vignette,
22 peeks in.. (22 is a siiiiiiiccckkkk lens btw)

5k ws clears for the 22.. but still not the 18..

SO WHAT. ill shoot 4k or 5k and just shoot for the aspect i choose.

anyways.. LOVIN THEM..

Purchased from DIMA, who did a solid job with them.. of course 1 or 2 lenses SLIGHTLY drifts as far as tracking goes.. but again.. these aren't modern day PERFECT lenses.. these are specifically LOOK lenses.

i really really really want a 40mm.. so I'm keeping my eyes peeled..


anyways. my (excited I just got new lenses) rant/review is complete..

I will post video as soon as i get some good subjects to shoot.
 
They truly are hit or miss lenses. I came across a 75mm one time that I thought was very nice. If you've got some good ones, then they should produce some very nice images. Look forward to seeing your footage.
 
I have a Ekran Highspeed set from 14 to 75 (except the 22mm). They are nice lenses at T2.2, but I had several project presented on big big screens with a wide variety of lenses. The Ekran have a nice look overall, but they seriously lack sharpness. They are the poor man's Leica. For features, Lom/ Ekran are not the best I think.

I was a Lomo lover, but time has passed, and as of today I will choose a Leica Van Diemen lens set over my Ekran any day. Same kind of look, but classier.

About mechanics, the kinor lenses (the standard speed) are "easy" to find so you always have a choice of reselling unit that are not up to your standard, but when it comes to highspeed, it's hard to find. So you have to deal with bad mechnics.

I'm happy with mine now, but it has been a long ride.
 
Wow Vico! Kick ass commercials dude. You damn near had me crying in my hotel room :) I loved the look of those Lomos. Very nicely done. If you ever want to part with your very complete set of Lomos, I'd be interested. Thanks for sharing. Now I'm pretty jealous Zak :)
 
Couldn't have said it better myself. I love my LOMO lenses too. Great to hear you are satisfied. Dima is a great person to buy LOMOs from.

Zakaree Sandberg said:
if your after that nasty medical perfectly sharp so your eye bleeds look.. then don't get them

if your sick of that plastic, way too digital look i just described.. and would like a more organic, pleasing, film like image.. then take a look at lomos.
Click to expand...

Exactly why I got mine...
 
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Here are some examples of stuff I recently shot with my LOMO lenses. The first shot is with the 22mm. The other two are with the 150mm.

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Bérenger Brillante said:
I have a Ekran Highspeed set from 14 to 75 (except the 22mm). They are nice lenses at T2.2, but I had several project presented on big big screens with a wide variety of lenses. The Ekran have a nice look overall, but they seriously lack sharpness. They are the poor man's Leica. For features, Lom/ Ekran are not the best I think.

I was a Lomo lover, but time has passed, and as of today I will choose a Leica Van Diemen lens set over my Ekran any day. Same kind of look, but classier.

About mechanics, the kinor lenses (the standard speed) are "easy" to find so you always have a choice of reselling unit that are not up to your standard, but when it comes to highspeed, it's hard to find. So you have to deal with bad mechnics.

I'm happy with mine now, but it has been a long ride.
Click to expand...


good looking spots..

If I ever did a movie that was to be printed on film, I would def do a test to see if these hold up or not.. Im guessing if I had a budget for a film print or really even had anything shown on a big screen, I would probably have the money to rent some s4s. I respect the people who like sharp lenses, and I totally get it.. but personally, I find them a tad harsh on these sensors. and while, you can always post soften any lens.. modern lenses just don't have the look I am going, creamy, magical-fantasy.
 
Zakaree Sandberg said:
I respect the people who like sharp lenses, and I totally get it.. but personally, I find them a tad harsh on these sensors. and while, you can always post soften any lens.. modern lenses just don't have the look I am going, creamy, magical-fantasy.
Click to expand...

Agreed :thumbsup:

I like the organic/creamy old school (with abberations etc) nature of Lomo's (both Ana and spherical). They bring some character into the image whilst shooting. Of course, modern lenses are better in some many ways (better mechanically, sharper, less flares, better coatings, etc etc etc) - and you can always grade/soften later... it's just that working on these older lenses always gives a 'character' to the image.

Sometimes that's not what you'd want (a super clean/glossy car spot for example)... but then, you hire a specific lens. But, for narrative or promo style work, the character of older glass (Lomo, Cooke, Angie and stuff like K35's etc) just shines through.

Welcome to the Lomo Converts Club (LCC) LOL.
 
I think Steve is right about Lomo's. You have to pick and choose. The good one's are really very nice, the bad ones, not so nice. And the only way to find out is to try them out, so plan to buy plenty of them. The philosophy of the great singer Jerry Reed applies here: "When you're hot. your hot. When you're not, your not".
 
Rob Gardner said:
I think Steve is right about Lomo's. You have to pick and choose. The good one's are really very nice, the bad ones, not so nice. And the only way to find out is to try them out, so plan to buy plenty of them. The philosophy of the great singer Jerry Reed applies here: "When you're hot. your hot. When you're not, your not".
Click to expand...

100% agree, especially with Ebay purchased lenses... some are beyond bad.

I have 3 Fotons now (2 excellent - 1 is a bit 'meh' - but good for spares :) In terms of primes, I've been lucky... but I do find myself with multiples and it seems logical to hold them as parts/backup.

My quest is for additional speeds now...
 
I am really glad I didn't sell my set of 1990 Kinor 35 lomos. I recently had to shoot with a clients CP2 lenses and was astonished that the CP2s couldn't compete with my lomos which I had always thought of as softish and flarey. My lomos are great and I'm glad I kept them. I have done a lot of shoots with them and they never stood out as "Vintage" or unusual, they just look nice. The 100mm is a great looking lens.

Nick
 
Nick Gardner said:
I am really glad I didn't sell my set of 1990 Kinor 35 lomos. I recently had to shoot with a clients CP2 lenses and was astonished that the CP2s couldn't compete with my lomos which I had always thought of as softish and flarey. My lomos are great and I'm glad I kept them. I have done a lot of shoots with them and they never stood out as "Vintage" or unusual, they just look nice. The 100mm is a great looking lens.

Nick
Click to expand...


when i look at a s2/s3 i see VINTAGE
when i look at the kowas or super baltars. i see VINTAGE

the lomos just have a quality to them.. film like.. but your right.. they don't come off as being vintage
 
Zakaree Sandberg said:
if your after that nasty medical perfectly sharp so your eye bleeds look.. then don't get them

if your sick of that plastic, way too digital look i just described.. and would like a more organic, pleasing, film like image.. then take a look at lomos.

I feel like I'm giving away a hidden secret here.
Click to expand...

SHHHHHH!!!!! Don't tell them!

I'm a new man to the world of Lomos, I have an Ekran 35mm t/1.3 and just got a Lomo 50mm t2.3. The Ekran is a lot newer, and is pretty modern in terms of conveniences, while the 50mm is the exact opposite... but they both have that truly organic feel that is really hard to describe otherwise. It makes things just look better, I swear.
I'm planning on hunting down some more in the near future. I'm selling off most of my modern Nikon glass because I'm artistically rebelling against the look of modern glass. Whether it's backlash against years of working in photojournalism or just finding my style, I don't know. But finding a sharp lens is easy...finding a pleasing lens is not.

It's not like Lomos are unsharp. the 35mm has veiling flare wide open, sure, which softens it some, but if you up the contrast enough you realize there's still tons of detail. By the time you hit T2 it's really quite good. And when I opened the first R3D from the 50mm wide open, I did a double take because I was really astonished by the amount of detail it captured.
 
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